A new exhibit in the Odessa Fine Arts Museum (OFAM): a photograph of the legendary Odessa painter Kyriak Kostandi with his wife, bought at an auction.

Such a generous gift was given to the Museum by members of the “Marazli Club”. The photo was bought at an auction. This was stated by the director of OFAM Alexander Roytburd.

In the year of the 100th anniversary of the death of Kostandi, a group of members of the “Marazli club” bought an original print of his photo with his wife at an auction. Gottlieb photograph, Odessa, 1909. it will be donated to the OFAM archive.

Aleksandr Roytburd, director of the Arts Museum

Kostandi Kyriak Konstantinovich, born in 1852 in the village Dofinovka near Odessa and died in 1921 in Odessa, was a legendary painter and one of the most important cultural personalities of the city before the revolution. He was among the organisers of the Odessa Literary and Artistic Society created in 1897 and the City Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1899 (now the Odessa Art Museum). In 1907 he received the title of academician from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts "for his fame in the artistic field". In 1902, at the exhibition of South Russians, the painting "Blooming lilac", which was purchased for the City Museum for 1000 rubles, caused general admiration.

The Marazli Club is a public association, whose activities are aimed at supporting and developing the Odessa Fine Arts Museum through the use of membership fees as a financial instrument that will allow for the first time in the history of modern Ukraine to provide a cultural institution with a permanent fund for sustainable development.

Source and photo: CULTUREMETER